In October 2010, somebody smashed the front window of Nancy Wiebelhaus’s home in Portland, Oregon, and ran off with three laptops: two MacBooks and a MacBook Pro.

One of the MacBooks was running GadgetTrak. “I bought it because the same thing happened a couple of years ago when we had three laptops stolen. These kinds of property crimes are really, really common in my neighborhood,” says Wiebelhaus, an eighth-grade language arts teacher.

Once activated, GadgetTrak begins tracking location and network information whenever the stolen laptop connects to the Internet. It also captures photos of the person using the device, and sends them to the computer’s owner.

“Over the course of a week or two, I got three videos of people who had my laptop,” says Wiebelhaus. GadgetTrak also sent her an IP address that the suspects were using to go online.

She forwarded the information to Portland Police Department, which subpoenaed the Internet service provider. The ISP identified the customer who had been assigned that particular IP address.

The detective on the case immediately recognized the name of the customer. The suspect was already in jail, having been arrested recently on another crime.

The defendant, Tracy Miller, 48, ended up pleading “no contest” to the burglary. He was sentence to an additional 31 months in prison.

“The software helped in catching the person who broke into my house,” says Wiebelhaus.

Miller reportedly told police that he had traded one of the MacBooks to his dealer for drugs. The whereabouts of the other two laptops is unknown.

( Content from Jeff Bertolucci, PCWorld )

We have launched a new beta project, GadgetTrak Camera Serial Search, a free service that allows people to enter the serial number of their camera and search for images online that were taken by that particular camera.

Every year over 100 million cameras are sold and about 10% of them are high-end cameras purchased by professional photographers and hobbiests alike. We hear a lot of stories regarding theft of these expensive devices and wanted to help.

Many of the images captured are uploaded to social media and photo sharing sites for public view. We found that many of the top camera manufacturers embed the camera’s serial number into the image. This includes Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Pentax and more. We scan online photo sites and extract this serial number using a specialized distributed computing engine that we have built. This service can assist in the recovery of stolen cameras, as well as copyright issues, and we are working with law enforcement agencies to see how it can be used to solve other serious crimes like child pornography.

From our initial tests the new service will work with Twitter’s new photo sharing tools announced today allowing us to extract the serial numbers from images as they are uploaded and made public.

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Cross-platform GadgetTrak Mobile Security device tracking and data protection solution certified by AT&T for the enterprise

We are happy to announce that our GadgetTrak Mobile Security suite of location tracking and data protection software has gained Certified Solutions status from communications giant AT&T. The certification for its latest suite of Android, Blackberry and iOS software provides professionals and enterprise administrators with the ability to track lost or stolen phones, remotely wipe sensitive data, as well as securely encrypt and back-up sensitive information into the cloud. The software also has the ability to utilize built-in cameras to capture photos of the person using it.
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Over the past week we have been running a great campaign with Klout offering key influencers with a years subscription to GadgetTrak, as well as allowing them to share the perk with their followers. The response has been better than we imagined, the influencers receiving the licenses love it as well as their friends. We feel a little like Oprah.

We are honored to be named in this years Entrepreneur “Top 100 Brilliant Companies”.

View the full 100 companies selected by Entrepreneur

We’re excited to announce a key new feature added to our theft recovery arsenal to assist you in the recovery of your devices!

In order for police to respond to the evidence we provide, they require the device owner to file a police report. We’ve found, however, that people often don’t realize this or don’t have the time to go to the police station to report a stolen device…

Introducing Integrated Police Report Filing

We have now integrated online police reporting for 150+ agencies in the United States that provide it. This tool allows you to easily fill out a police report for your lost/stolen device and activate location tracking for it all at the same time.

Through our close collaboration with police on several recoveries we know just how important it is to partner with police and follow their procedures. With this latest feature, we have made reporting easier for customers to provide law enforcement with the information they need to act quickly on the evidence we provide.

How It Works

Once you’ve activated tracking for the missing device from the web control panel, you’re ready to file your police report online:

Step 1: You will first click your state and choose your local police department:

Step 2: You’ll then be guided through a step-by-step process to provide the details of the device and the theft/loss to file your police report:

 
Step 3: Fill out our contact form to notify us of the theft and case number.

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It is critical to work with us and law enforcement to help recover your device. This keeps you safe and allows police to do what they do best, solve crimes. Many times, our recoveries lead police to uncover other crimes of stolen property, stolen cars, and even organized crime.

This feature is available now and no upgrade to the client software is required.

Jennifer Jolly did a great segment showcasing GadgetTrak during ABC 7’s 7live this afternoon in San Francisco.

We know, all to well, the headaches caused by stolen devices. A big Thank You to the many news outlets like ABC 7 (KGO) that are helping spread the word and prevent more heartache!

Seattle, WA, May 13, 2011 – The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest (MITEF NW) today announced that
ActiveTrak (www.gadgettrak.com) is the winner of last night’s Northwest Startup DEMO held at One Union
Square Boardroom in Seattle. ActiveTrak, selected out of the six finalists who presented, demonstrated
GadgetTrak, its patented loss and theft recovery software for laptops, smartphones, and portable media devices
in front of a panel of judges consisting of local venture capitalists, angels, and media. The software utilizes
cameras and Internet connectivity on mobile devices to apply multiple layers of security that protect sensitive
data and locate missing devices.

“We are honored to have received this award,” explains Ken Westin, founder and CEO of ActiveTrak based in
Portland, OR. “Northwest Startup DEMO is a great forum for entrepreneurs and start‐ups to demonstrate their
technology in front of their peers, and get recognition in our region.”

“The premise of DEMO is based on a start‐up’s ability to deliver solid product and service demonstrations,” adds
Steve Johnson, DEMO Chair for MITEF NW. “From smartphone apps to technology for interactive movies, the
businesses that presented last night are a testimony to the hotbed of innovation that is the Pacific Northwest.”

Twice a year, Northwest Startup DEMO, a program of MITEF NW, showcases the latest technology companies of
the region, in partnership with Alliance of Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Puget Sound Venture Club, Seraph Capital
Forum, TacomaAngel Network, and ZINO Society.

GadgetTrak founder Ken Westin and Alan Peters of the FBI offer tips on smartphone security in a special segment on KGW News in Portland, Oregon:

Some of the key tips include:

• Don’t explore suspicious text messages
• Connect only to known or password-protected hotspots
• Turn off your phone when not using it ( at night etc )

When St. Mary’s College student Michael Kuzmack lost his laptop last semester just before finals, he was crushed. But then he remembered he had software on it - called GadgetTrak - that enabled him to catch the crook. When the thief finally turned it on, the laptop’s camera immediately took a photo of the suspect.

“I was really angry, but then I was thankful that I had indeed installed GadgetTrak … and I got all this information and the chances of recovering the laptop were really good.”

The software also pinpointed his exact address in Richmond. And transmitted the information to Michael’s email. Moraga police were able to zero in, make an arrest, and recover his laptop.

“We’re able to find a GPS coordinate of where the particular person is, get a search warrant, and we’re able to retrieve that laptop, so we’ve had really great successes with some of these products,” says Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley police department.

There have been a rash of data breaches where passwords have been compromised that were stored as plain text and not converted to a one-way hash as they should be. However, most consumers and even many developers particularly in startups don’t know about the best practice of hashing passwords, what it means and how it can help protect users. ActiveTrak founder Ken Westin provides a writeup explaining how hashes are used and why they are important when protecting customers’ data.

Read full article

Although Apple is on the hot seat this week for the file that was found that is logging your location data unencrypted, both Apple and Google have been logging your location for quite a while. Both platforms regularly transmit name, location and signal strength of Wi-Fi networks along with a unique device ID back to Google and Apple. Although both claim that this data is collected and “anonymized” they do not provide a lot of specifics regarding how the data is collected and secured. Android also keeps a cache of location data, however it is only accessible by a root user and is once the file hits a certain size will reset itself, unlike the Apple file which saves cached data for what seems to be forever, it does not appear to cycle itself.
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Researchers have discovered a spy in your pocket, your iPhone is keeping a working history of where you have been in a hidden file on the phone that is copied over to your computer when connected and synched with iTunes. Not only is the device logging your location, but also at timestamp so anyone with access to this file will know when and where you have been.

Odds are that this is something Apple was doing for use in a later feature, or possibly for bug reporting purposes, but the fact that this data is logged on your device and copied to your computer without consent is grounds for concern. That Apple would intentionally do this also raises serious concerns regarding Apple’s approach to privacy. You can download an application that you can run that will load the file and show on a map where you have been. I ran a test on my iPhone 4 which is only a few days old and the results were as expected, it showed me at work and at home and everywhere in between.

Download the app here

With GadgetTrak software we always felt that tracking should only occur when the customer activates tracking and location data should only be saved on the server when the user specifically requests this option, apparently our privacy philosophy is not something shared with Apple. When you activate tracking with GadgetTrak for iOS you are provided with an option to store the data on the server, or simply have the tracking data emailed to you without it being stored.

ActiveTrak Inc. was approached by FLIR, the leading manufacturer of infrared and thermal imaging cameras to create a custom solution for their devices. The project entailed creating a version of our patented GadgetTrak technology that could be embedded directly into the camera’s firmware. When the device is connected to a PC, GadgetTrak reports location and other forensic information regarding who is in possession of the camera.

The price point for these devices range from $3K to $300K and a solution to assist in keeping track of them was of huge value to FLIR’s customers. Launched as a co-branded product under the brand “ThermaTrak” the service was offered as part of the extended service warranty, or sold as a stand alone service for $99 per year. In addition to creating a custom client for FLIR’s cameras, a custom user interface was created for customer services representatives to register customers, as well as a co-branded front-end that customers could access to activate the tracking of devices.

The project was completed on schedule and launched in the Summer of 2009 to their customers with a very positive response, measured by the increase in users who opted for the extended warranty plans, or who purchased the stand alone subscription. “This is the first-ever theft tracking system for IR cameras. We are very excited to announce our exclusive agreement with GadgetTrak to offer this new recovery technology customized to FLIR IR cameras,” said Tom Scanlon, vice president for FLIR. “The affordability and protection is exactly what our end-users want.”

To learn more about partnering with GadgetTrak please contact us.

As many as 50 female celebrities in Hollywood have fallen victim to a ring of hackers who have been stealing naked images of them from their phones and laptops. The targets are said to include Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus to name a few. Former “High School Musical” star Vanessa Hudgens recently met with the FBI to discuss nude photos stolen from her e-mail account.

Of course the best way to keep images such as this from being stolen and hitting the Internet is to not take such photos in the first place, however it does raise privacy questions with regards to the images you take, where they are stored and how you share them. Even if we are not taking naked photos, sometimes our photos are still very private and not something we wish to share with anyone. Photos of our children, family and friends can be both priceless as well as sacred to us, especially celebrities who have to work hard to keep their private lives private.

We take privacy very seriously, this is key to why we have so many celebrity customers. GadgetTrak Mobile Security provides users with the ability to remotely wipe their phones including photos if the device is lost or stolen. The images are also encrypted on the phone and backed up securely using their own privacy key that only the customer knows, so not even our employees can access the images or contact data. This is all by design, GadgetTrak Mobile Security was designed to help protect your data and privacy from the ground up. Try our free 7 day trial to see for yourself.

We believe that everybody should have their laptops safe from theives. So, we’re excited to announce that we’re giving away 100 FREE licenses for one year of GadgetTrak Laptop Security for either Mac or Windows!

It’s easy to win. Simply follow the instructions below to register via Facebook or Twitter and we’ll randomly select 100 winners on Tuesday (April 19th, 2011). Do both and double your chances to win

Cheers!

Option 1: Using Facebook

1. Click the ‘Like’ button below to become a fan of GadgetTrak on Facebook
   

   
   

2. Then click the ‘Like’ button below to share our giveaway with friends & family.
   

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Option 2: Using Twitter

1. Click the “Tweet” button below to send out a tweet about our giveaway.

   Tweet
   

2. Follow GadgetTrak on Twitter so that we can contact you if you win!

   

Epsilon Data Management, a large email marketing services company with approximately 2,500 clients, disclosed April 1 that attackers had stolen customer data belonging to several of its clients. The breach may be due to an Epsilon employee who was duped via a social engineering tactic referred to as spear-phishing compromising and employees computer and gave remote access to the attacker. The data that was gathered was simply the users email address and name, however many of Epsilon’s clients were banks and major retailers, so there is an even greater risk of further spear-phishing attacks targeting the compromised clients customers.

What if this attack happened in a situation where more than just your email and name are stored? Early on we saw that many of the mobile security providers who provide data backup do not encrypt the data they backup. When you log into your control panel you can view all your photos and contacts right there in the web interface. The problem with this is that so can that company’s employees, it also opens up the potential for a hacker to access your information if their systems are compromised through attacks such as what Epsilon experienced, or even simply a disgruntled employee.

This is why GadgetTrak Mobile Securityuses our patent-pending method to encrypt all data backed up data using your data privacy key that only you know, this key is not stored on our servers. Your encrypted data is then uploaded to our secure infrastructure via a secure SSL connection. Since only you know the encryption key not even we have access to your data this protects your privacy and helps ensure your data is not compromised.

This is just one example of a step we have taken to better protect your data and privacy, others include requiring three factor authentication to access the web control panel, encrypting your passwords and security questions in a one way hash and disabling the client access when tracking is active. If you have any questions regarding security or privacy of GadgetTrak software please contact us at security(at)gadgettrak.com.

Nationally, police believe 75 to 80 percent of all property crimes are committed by people addicted to methamphetamine, or who profit from addicts. In our experience recovering devices we have found this to ring true, so every time we recover a device for our customers we make a donation to The Meth Project. The Meth Project is a large-scale prevention program aimed at reducing first-time Meth use through public service messaging, public policy, and community outreach. Central to the program is a research-based marketing campaign that graphically communicates the risks of Meth use. If you would like to learn more about the project or make a donation yourself please vist www.methproject.org.

We’re honored to announce that GadgetTrak took home 3rd Place in the 2011 CTIA Wireless E-Tech Awards!

The Emerging Tech awards represent the most innovative mobile companies in the world. We shared the category, “Productivity, Utility and Public Safety”, with amazing companies: Skype, LogMeIn, the Opera Browser, and SoftKey.

Results:

1st Place: LogMeIn Ignition, LogMeIn, Inc.
2nd Place: SwiftKey Tablet, TouchType Ltd.
3rd Place: GadgetTrak, ActiveTrak

We couldn’t be happier to be showcased on this global stage. If you aren’t familiar, CTIA is an international organization representing the wireless communications industry. The association includes wireless carriers and hardware providers.

“CTIA congratulates this year’s E-Tech Awards winners,” said Robert Mesirow, CTIA vice president and show director. “The mobile industry is undergoing rapid innovation and the E-Tech Awards honor the latest products and services for a truly mobile life.”

Seems the awards are really starting to roll in!